If you're interested in "What the hell are people trying to take on planes?" aspect, the actual TSA blog is pretty well done.

And yes, people tried to get these on board a plane.

And I'm not worried about the people who forget they have guns in their carry on bags. It's the ones who try to conceal things other than drugs. You can check guns in your luggage, just be sure it's unloaded.

Guinevere used to have this problem. She always had hassles with the TSA because every time her husband Arthur rode off on a crusade he'd lock her up in a special forged steel chastity belt crafted by Merlin. It looked like a normal chastity belt except it had a hidden, spring-loaded guillotine-like blade in front. It was attached to a hair trigger and the least contact with the chastity belt would cause the razor-sharp blade to come slicing down.

So after one of his crusades Arthur returned to Camelot and assembled all of the knights of the Round Table in the courtyard, and ordered them to drop their doublets. There before his eyes, to his horror, he beheld the entire contingent of his men, the very flower of English chivalry, each and every one of them ripped asunder, horribly maimed by Merlin's infernal contraption. Each and every one of them, that is, except for Sir Lancelot. There stood Lancelot, smiling, his manhood quite intact and unharmed, proudly dangling in the breeze. Arthur approached Lancelot and said, "Sir Lancelot, I must admit I had my doubts about what you and Lady Guinevere might have been up to while I was away on my crusade. But now I see that you, only you, of all the knights of the Round Table, were deserving of my trust. Can you see it in your heart to forgive me for doubting you?"

LessO2:Jaws_Victim: But according to the Fark Terrorism Experts™, the TSA does nothing

Don't take Farkers opinions about it, take the guy who DOES have access to your precious SSI and has seen the numbers. Not sure of John Mica is a Farker or not, but I don't want to destroy your precious bravado.

Seen it. Complaining about how the rules have changed since his bare bones implementation accomplishes very little. He does nothing other than recommend what many Farkers have done, which is to stop screening and return to what we had before, which was privatized screening. Which also had the hijackings all the way up until 9/11, and I may remind you there has been none since 2001. In the US, at least.

Jaws_Victim:LessO2: Jaws_Victim: But according to the Fark Terrorism Experts™, the TSA does nothing

Don't take Farkers opinions about it, take the guy who DOES have access to your precious SSI and has seen the numbers. Not sure of John Mica is a Farker or not, but I don't want to destroy your precious bravado.

Seen it. Complaining about how the rules have changed since his bare bones implementation accomplishes very little. He does nothing other than recommend what many Farkers have done, which is to stop screening and return to what we had before, which was privatized screening. Which also had the hijackings all the way up until 9/11, and I may remind you there has been none since 2001. In the US, at least.

The fact of the matter is that the private screeners on 9/11 did NOTHING wrong. In fact a couple of them got secondary screening. The FAA was in charge of screening guidelines on 9/11 and before, they gave the SOP to the private companies.

You can "remind" us all you want, but I can also remind you that there are numerous reports out there that shows you guys miss anywhere from 60-90% of the prohibited items the Red Teams breeze by you.

LessO2:Jaws_Victim: LessO2: Jaws_Victim: But according to the Fark Terrorism Experts™, the TSA does nothing

Don't take Farkers opinions about it, take the guy who DOES have access to your precious SSI and has seen the numbers. Not sure of John Mica is a Farker or not, but I don't want to destroy your precious bravado.

Seen it. Complaining about how the rules have changed since his bare bones implementation accomplishes very little. He does nothing other than recommend what many Farkers have done, which is to stop screening and return to what we had before, which was privatized screening. Which also had the hijackings all the way up until 9/11, and I may remind you there has been none since 2001. In the US, at least.

The fact of the matter is that the private screeners on 9/11 did NOTHING wrong. In fact a couple of them got secondary screening. The FAA was in charge of screening guidelines on 9/11 and before, they gave the SOP to the private companies.

You can "remind" us all you want, but I can also remind you that there are numerous reports out there that shows you guys miss anywhere from 60-90% of the prohibited items the Red Teams breeze by you.

On 9/11 perhaps. What about every single other hijacking incident that has happened on US soil? And didn't the planes still come down on 9/11. My argument isn't outdated until another hijacking successfully occurs.

Thank you for the reminder. How many of those have brought down planes or hurt passengers on a plane again?

Sounds like you think another hijacking will occur. Not surprising, given the irrefutable data that's out there.

I disagree, I was simply stating context to my argument. I can't disagree with your irrefutable data since you haven't posted any. In the end, it doesn't matter. I do want you to know that if you came through my checkpoint I would try to treat you with the utmost respect and dignity I try to give to every other passenger, regardless of treatment to me.

Jaws_Victim:I do want you to know that if you came through my checkpoint I would try to treat you with the utmost respect and dignity I try to give to every other passenger, regardless of treatment to me.

LessO2:Jaws_Victim: I do want you to know that if you came through my checkpoint I would try to treat you with the utmost respect and dignity I try to give to every other passenger, regardless of treatment to me.

And I appreciate that. I do treat every screener as a human being.

On the data:"We've had a series of reports actually going back several years from the inspector general, from the General Accounting Office, and our own TSA Office of Inspection, where they do, as you describe, covert testing," [TSA Administrator John] Pistole acknowledged to George Stephanopoulos last month during an interview on Good Morning America. "And unfortunately, [undercover testers] have been very successful over the years."

You can click on the link for the rest of the article.

I've also read this, and can't comment on it. Wouldn't want to get fired. I will say that no planes have been hurt as a result of the testing however.

Jaws_Victim:He does nothing other than recommend what many Farkers have done, which is to stop screening and return to what we had before, which was privatized screening. Which also had the hijackings all the way up until 9/11, and I may remind you there has been none since 2001. In the US, at least.

So because we haven't happened to have had another 9/11 (when there wasn't one in the first 97 years of aviation, either), TSA is awesome and any criticism is totally unfair?

I had cereal for breakfast this morning, and the sun hasn't exploded. You're welcome.

Jaws_Victim:LessO2: Jaws_Victim: LessO2: Jaws_Victim: But according to the Fark Terrorism Experts™, the TSA does nothing

Don't take Farkers opinions about it, take the guy who DOES have access to your precious SSI and has seen the numbers. Not sure of John Mica is a Farker or not, but I don't want to destroy your precious bravado.

Seen it. Complaining about how the rules have changed since his bare bones implementation accomplishes very little. He does nothing other than recommend what many Farkers have done, which is to stop screening and return to what we had before, which was privatized screening. Which also had the hijackings all the way up until 9/11, and I may remind you there has been none since 2001. In the US, at least.

The fact of the matter is that the private screeners on 9/11 did NOTHING wrong. In fact a couple of them got secondary screening. The FAA was in charge of screening guidelines on 9/11 and before, they gave the SOP to the private companies.

You can "remind" us all you want, but I can also remind you that there are numerous reports out there that shows you guys miss anywhere from 60-90% of the prohibited items the Red Teams breeze by you.

On 9/11 perhaps. What about every single other hijacking incident that has happened on US soil? And didn't the planes still come down on 9/11. My argument isn't outdated until another hijacking successfully occurs.

Thank you for the reminder. How many of those have brought down planes or hurt passengers on a plane again?

Another hijacking hasn't occurred primarily because the American public wouldn't allow it. We know the rules of hijacking have changed, and will no longer passively comply with their demands. Systematically killing the leadership and training facilities of Al Qaeda also contributed. And, probably the 3rd most effective tactic was hardened cockpit doors.

The attacks that have been foiled (underwear bomber, shoe bomber) were thwarted by passengers, not TSA.

But hey, if you want to claim that confiscating my Jack Daniels and fondling my balls was primarily responsible, so be it. There's no data to back that claim, but go ahead and make it.

ImpendingCynic:Jaws_Victim: He does nothing other than recommend what many Farkers have done, which is to stop screening and return to what we had before, which was privatized screening. Which also had the hijackings all the way up until 9/11, and I may remind you there has been none since 2001. In the US, at least.

So because we haven't happened to have had another 9/11 (when there wasn't one in the first 97 years of aviation, either), TSA is awesome and any criticism is totally unfair?

I had cereal for breakfast this morning, and the sun hasn't exploded. You're welcome.

Criticism is needed to ensure changes happen. My other favorite fallacy in regards to TSA is the question "Well if they are doing so much good, how much terrorism have they thwarted? HUH?" If you say that the organization literally does NO good, (which the majority of people seem to claim) there is no defending it because everyone has already made up their minds.

stewbert:Jaws_Victim: LessO2: Jaws_Victim: LessO2: Jaws_Victim: But according to the Fark Terrorism Experts™, the TSA does nothing

Don't take Farkers opinions about it, take the guy who DOES have access to your precious SSI and has seen the numbers. Not sure of John Mica is a Farker or not, but I don't want to destroy your precious bravado.

Seen it. Complaining about how the rules have changed since his bare bones implementation accomplishes very little. He does nothing other than recommend what many Farkers have done, which is to stop screening and return to what we had before, which was privatized screening. Which also had the hijackings all the way up until 9/11, and I may remind you there has been none since 2001. In the US, at least.

The fact of the matter is that the private screeners on 9/11 did NOTHING wrong. In fact a couple of them got secondary screening. The FAA was in charge of screening guidelines on 9/11 and before, they gave the SOP to the private companies.

You can "remind" us all you want, but I can also remind you that there are numerous reports out there that shows you guys miss anywhere from 60-90% of the prohibited items the Red Teams breeze by you.

On 9/11 perhaps. What about every single other hijacking incident that has happened on US soil? And didn't the planes still come down on 9/11. My argument isn't outdated until another hijacking successfully occurs.

Thank you for the reminder. How many of those have brought down planes or hurt passengers on a plane again?

Another hijacking hasn't occurred primarily because the American public wouldn't allow it. We know the rules of hijacking have changed, and will no longer passively comply with their demands. Systematically killing the leadership and training facilities of Al Qaeda also contributed. And, probably the 3rd most effective tactic was hardened cockpit doors.

The attacks that have been foiled (underwear bomber, ...

Did you not just read that they found and confiscated numerous items of interest in the blog? From January alone? Including IED's and loaded firearms. Sure there's no data they were DEFINITELY going to use those items to harm the plane or people on it, (How can we know what they were going to do if they didn't do it?) but I'm sure they were trying to bring them on just because IED's are such a common tool of everyday life, right?

Jaws_Victim:Did you not just read that they found and confiscated numerous items of interest in the blog? From January alone? Including IED's and loaded firearms. Sure there's no data they were DEFINITELY going to use those items to harm the plane or people on it, (How can we know what they were going to do if they didn't do it?) but I'm sure they were trying to bring them on just because IED's are such a common tool of everyday life, right?

The thing is, the TSA, and you know this, takes pictures and files reports when it finds things such as guns or IEDs. Especially since they're subject to, in addition to criminal court, the kangaroo court the TSA has (governed by the Coast Guard) to impose TSA monetary penalties.

The point I'm arriving at is this: The TSA investigates the individual carrying these things and also determines whether the person has nefarious intentions (read: terrorist). Given the TSA hasn't sounded the PR alarm over any of the IED or guns finds, the answer to your question is, yes, people do carry IEDs for their own lives.